Fertilizer Important for Orchid Reblooming

With proper care, Just Add Ice Orchids can bloom year-after-year, delighting orchid owners with their dazzling displays again and again. Once the final blossom drops from your orchid, the plant will go into a resting dormant phase during which it replenishes the nutrients needed to support flowering. During its dormant phase, your Just Add Ice Orchid will require a little tender loving care and some patience on your part.

Like most blooming flowers, orchids typically come into bloom once a year, although orchids can sometimes be coaxed to rebloom more frequently. However, as a general rule, Just Add Ice Orchid owners should expect their orchid to remain dormant for 9 to 12 months after each major display before a new flower spike emerges.

During the dormant stage, the orchid will grow a new leaf, which is needed before the plant can produce another flower spike. In general, Phalaenopsis orchids will only produce one flower spike per leaf.

During dormancy, your Just Add Ice Orchid will require much of the same care it received while it was blooming. To help trigger reblooming, follow these orchid care tips and those in our previous post:

Water. During its dormant phase, you should continue to water your Just Add Ice Orchid with three ice cubes once a week just like you did when it was blooming.

Fertilizer. To replenish nutrients and promote reblooming, feed your orchid every other week with a balanced houseplant fertilizer at half the recommended strength. It is also possible to purchase specific orchid fertilizer that can be used as recommended on the packaging. Remove the grower pot from the decorative pot and place your orchid in the sink. Lifting the leaves to avoid wetting them, pour in fertilizer until liquid comes out of the drainage holes. Allow your orchid to drain before returning it to the decorative pot. Skip ice cube watering on fertilizer weeks.

For more information on how to trigger orchid reblooming, visit our website to view helpful orchid care videos.

Stay tuned for Part 3: Temperature and Humidity

Photo credit: Ryan Somma